preposition

Definition:
A word (one of the parts of speech and a member of a closed word class) that
shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence.
The combination of a preposition and a noun phrase is called a prepositional
phrase. A word group (such as in front of or on top of) that functions like a simple,
one-word preposition is called a complex preposition.
Prepositions convey the following relationships: agency (by); comparison (like, as
. . . as); direction (to, toward, through); place (at, by, on); possession (of); purpose
(for); source (from, out of); and time (at, before, on). See "Observations," below.
See also:

Notes on Prepositions

Adding Prepositional Phrases

Arranging Prepositional Phrases

Collocation

Ending Sentences With Prepositions

Object of a Preposition

Particles

Postposition

Prepositional Adverb

Prepositional Phrase

Prepositional Verb

Preposition Stranding

Exercises:

Exercise in Identifying Prepositional Phrases

Identifying Prepositions in Common English Idioms

Practice in Identifying Prepositional Phrases

Preposition Practice: In, Into, On, and At

Sentence Building With Prepositional Phrases

Simple Prepositions:

aboard

beyond

past

about

by

regarding

above

despite

round

across

down

since

after

during

than

against

for

through

along

from

throughout

amid

in

till

among

inside

to

around

into

toward

as

like

under

at

near

unlike

atop

of

until

before

off

up

behind

on

upon

below

onto

with

beneath

out

within

beside

outside

without

between

over

Etymology:
From the Greek, "put in front"
Examples:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty."

(Edward R. Murrow)

"Yes, I lied to you. Of course it makes you look fat. I've never been to
Brussels. It is pronounced 'egregious.' By the way, no, I've never met
Pizzaro, but I love his pies. And all of this pales to utter insignificance in
light of the fact that my ship is once again gone."
(Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, 2007)

"To this day, I remain impressed by the ability of Britons of all ages and
social backgrounds to get genuinely excited by the prospect of a hot

beverage."
(Bill Bryson, Notes From a Small Island. Doubleday, 1995)

"[Miss] Piggy is certainly hard, but that's just part of the job. I don't even
think about it. She's also hard because I have to reach down into the
feminine part of myself and bring that up. It's not just the surface with her.
There are a lot of neuroses in her. So I have to come from a different place
with Piggy."
(Frank Oz)

Dr. Wilson: Beauty often seduces us on the road to truth.

Dr. House: And triteness kicks us in the nads.
(House M.D.)

Texan: Where are you from?

Yale student: I come from a place where we don't end our sentences with
prepositions.
Texan: Okay. Where are you from, jackass?

Observations:

"It is important to be aware that some words that have the form of a
preposition do not have the same function.
The girl read in the library
The rioters kicked in the door.
The form of the preposition in is identical in each case, but the function is
different. In the first sentence, in describes where the girl is reading--it is
therefore a preposition of place. In the second sentence, however, in is
directly related to the verb kicked--in this case, it is called a particle."
(Sara Thorne, Mastering Advanced English Language. Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008)

In English, three prepositions, namely of, to and by, play roles closely
integrated with case and the grammatical structure of clauses. Thus:
o of is associated with a variety of possessive or (loosely speaking)
'genitive' constructions, as in the book of the teacher, the arrival of
the ferry and the mortification of the flesh
3

o to is a marker of indirect objects or 'dative case,' as in We donated

our earnings to the Dog and Cat Home
o by marks the noun phrase is a passive clause corresponding to the
subject of the related active clause, as in We were ruined by the
currency speculators or Our ruination by the currency speculators.
(James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guide. Cambridge Univ. Press,
1994)

"Learners seem to make mistakes with prepositions for various reasons.

"Some of these reasons have to do with English itself: For example, a
learner may say by random instead of at random, because by and at are
sometimes similar in meaning, and/or because random and chance can be
similar in meaning (e.g. a random result ~ a chance result), or because the
phrases by chance and at random are similar enough in meaning to induce
unintentional cross-association (~ 'cross-swapping') of words. . . .
"More often perhaps, mistakes stem from differences between English and
the mother tongue. For instance, Japanese has postpositions not
prepositions (and not many of them) while Korean has no such words at
all."
(Seth Lindstromberg, English Prepositions Explained, 2nd ed. John
Benjamins, 2010)

"The Preposition at the end of a sentence; a common fault with [Ben

Jonson], and which I have but lately observ'd in my own writings."
(John Dryden)

"Those who lay down the universal principle that final prepositions are
'inelegant' are unconsciously trying to deprive the English language of a
valuable idiomatic resource, which has been used freely by all our greatest
writers."
(Henry Fowler, Modern English Usage, 1921)

Pronunciation: PREP-i-ZISH-in
Also Known As: simple preposition

Related Pages

Prepositional Phrase

Identifying Prepositional Phrases

Is It Wrong to End a Sentence With a Preposition?

Basic Sentence Parts

Basic Parts of Speech

Basic Sentence Structures

Grammatical Terms That We Should Have Learned in School

Sentence Building

Introduction to Sentence Combining

Sentence Building with Prepositional Phrases

Sentence Combining : "The San Francisco Earthquake"

Related Articles

Notes on Prepositions - An Introduction to Prepositions and Prepositional

P...

Prepositional Phrase Help for ESL EFL English Learners and Classes

Preposition - Grammar Glossary for Spanish and English

Preposition To

Prepositions - French

Status of Education in Developing Countries

Apr.30, 2012 in education, English, Pendidikan
What is Education
Education is the process of acquiring knowledge from teachers through their
teaching. It is the learning that one gets in schools. It mainly involves activities
like imparting knowledge by the teachers in classrooms, presentation of study
materials by faculty members, practical training in workshop by the instructor
with the aim to train the student in any particular subject matter and to give them
practical exposure on the practical aspects of real time situations, imparting him
with the necessary technical skills required to face the practical situations.

What is the need for Education

Education is basic fundamental and an important ingredient required for
development of any society. Education of a person improves his social status, his
mental status, his knowledge, and his abilities to develop his skills to face
practical lie situations. Education is the only weapon with which one can kill
ignorance and fight with unawareness. An educated person can perceive things in
a better way because he ahs a broad mind with which he can see the things
differently. He has a broadened mind with which he is able to understand all the
faces of any problem and then he will be able to handle the situation in a better
way.
Status of education is high in developed countries but if we talk about developing
countries the scene is just opposite. The literacy rate in developing countries like
India is very low. Though continuous efforts are being made by the government to
achieve the higher literacy rate but still the target is far to achieve and it will take
years to achieve the targets that are being set by the UNESCO and the government
of these countries.
But why is this so Why the literacy rate is not up to desired mark despite of
continuous efforts What are the major barriers which prevent spread of education
The reasons can be best described as Lack of Education and Infrastructure
facilities which prevent the literacy rate from being reaching up to desired mark,
poverty in a major segment of population which prevents the parents from sending
their children to schools, Gender inequality that means female are not given the
same preference as the male which should not be and the traditional caste
practices which also plays a major role in preventing the education to reach the
light of education to reach all the doors.
If people from developing countries are able to overcome these barriers the
education level will definitely rise in these developing countries.
Online learning education program, distance education application
Apr.30, 2012 in education, English, Pendidikan

Learning online programs have grown to be the most famous and viable strategy
for learning and teaching. More and more people are registering for learning
online programs of numerous universities. Distance learning program gives
freedom to some student to know at her own pace, his very own schedule possibly
at their own convenience.
Distance learning is imparted from the electronic media and study materials given
by the university to get a particular course. It can help individuals to upgrade their
educational qualification even though they may be tangled up of their working
schedule. Some business houses also have distance education to train their
employees as it is less time consuming, more affordable and enhances the human
resource enrichment on the business house.
To sign up to get a learning online course one must be sure as to what kind of
specialization is seeking. A comprehensive study must then be exercised to
discover in specifics about the universities offering the course wanted. Any time
duration on the course, the fees, the software needed as well as the time of exam
must also checked. An important factor that should be checked is whether the
school or university is accredited or you cannot, you ought to not register within a
university and that is not accredited.
Every coin has two sides and distance learning program isnt very to the rule.
While learning online program pays to as it helps individuals to continue with
their education despite in their demanding schedule additionally , it has some
disadvantages. It might are not able to motivate trainees to study producing not
good for the candidate, this shows registering yourself is not sufficient, you will
need to in addition have a drive in you to ultimately continue with the study. The
prosperity of distance education also is determined by the achievements of the
technology. And with out a good support system and infrastructure the gap
learning may be a failure.
Thus we are able to say that online learning is really a boon for todays busy and
demanding world it demands an important higher level of maturity by reviewing
the students.